The pickup truck has grown into an all-around, all-purpose vehicle for basic transportation; part-time truck, full-time work truck and recreational vehicle. In order to improve the cargo carrying function of pick-up trucks, various truck cargo racks have been proposed.
For example, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,791, incorporated herein by reference. a rack for a bed of a pick-up truck is disclosed. The rack includes a plurality of vertical support poles for projecting within stake apertures within the sides of the bed of the pick-up truck. A pair of the elongated members removably secure the support poles to one another and a plurality of transverse members removably secure the pair of elongate members. A plurality of extended members secure orthogonally to each inner member projected downward and have a horizontal slot and an L-member removably projecting within the slot. Threaded shafts threadably engage the L-members substantially parallel to the support poles. Therefore, this device is comprised of several support rails and posts which are assembled to the pick-up truck to provide the cargo carrying function. However, if the rack is no longer desired, the entire rack must be disassembled and removed from the pick-up truck.
As shown in U.S. Des. Pat. No. 318,447, incorporated herein by reference, a pick-up truck rack comprising support rails which extend above the sides and front portions of a pick-up truck. The rack further comprises base rails for securing the cargo rack to the sides of the pick-up truck. The support rails and posts comprise one uniform cargo rack which may be secured to or removed from the pick-up truck.
A pick-up truck rack with means for facilitating loading, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,020, incorporated herein by reference. The rack for a pick-up truck has four corner posts supported on steel angle bed rails which extend the full length of the truck box. The rails protect the top edges of the truck box. Corner posts are attached to the ends of the bed rails. Side rails extend between front and rear corner posts are lower than front and rear cross rails to facilitate loading, and the rear cross rail is removable to enable tall objects to be loaded onto the truck bed. When the cargo carrying function of the truck rack is no longer desirable, the entire truck rack must be disassembled and removed from the pick-up truck.
A pick-up truck rack is shown in U.S. Des. Pat. No. 244,268, incorporated herein by reference. The rack comprises four upside down U-shaped members which are bolted together at the vertical members of the U-shaped sections. The bolted together vertical members create posts which support the horizontal flat portions of the upside-down U-shaped members. Once assembled, the entire truck rack is bolted to a pick-up truck body to provide the cargo carrying function. Once this function is no longer desirable, the entire rack must be disassembled and removed from the pick-up truck.
Additionally, prior art pick-up truck rack systems have been disclosed which are collapsible to secure the rack out of the way when the cargo carrying function is no longer desired. This enables the rack to remain with the pick-up truck at all times so that the rack may be unfolded to its cargo carrying position when the cargo carrying function is desired.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,038, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a livestock enclosure for a pick-up truck with two foldable rack structures. One foldable rack structure is provided for each sidewall of the truck body. These foldable rack structures terminate at the rear of the truck. The racks are collapsible against a vertical headboard at the front of the truck body. Blocking pins are provided to secure the rack to the wall of the truck. The rear gates may be swung open and if the truck is too close to a cattle chute or other structure, the gates may be opened by lateral movement. A bar holds the rack structure in position at the rear of the truck and also is employed to retain the rack in its collapsed position against the cab.
An alternative collapsible truck rack is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,864, incorporated herein by reference. This collapsible truck rack includes: a series of sets of parallel bars, connected together by a parallel motion mechanism in the form of pivotable links and mounted in a series of vertical posts which are hinged so that in a collapsed condition the post folds longitudinally over the collapsed set of parallel bars.
In all of these prior art systems, when the cargo carrying function is no longer desirable, the rack must either be completely removed from the pick-up truck or collapsed to a position which does not allow full use of the pick-up truck without interference. In particular, the previously disclosed collapsible truck racks do not allow normal use of the pick-up truck when the racks are in their collapsed positions. Therefore, there is a need for a collapsible pick-up truck rack which collapses to a position which allows full use of the pick-up truck.